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Alumna Launches Video Series to Address Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding

December 20, 2017

Elizabeth Bayne is working to address racial disparities in breastfeeding.

When Elizabeth G.Baynelearned only 59 percent of African-American women breastfeed their babies,she was indignant. “This issueresonated with me as a woman; itfelt like a reproductive justice issue,” said Bayne, M.P.H.’06,who notes 75 percent of Caucasian women and 80 percent of Hispanic women breastfeed in the UnitedStates.Besides being free and readily available for most new mothers, breast milk providesinfantswithenormous health benefits.

“[Notbreastfeeding] puts our childrenat higherrisk for asthma, obesity, diabetes and other chronicdiseases—the very same health conditions disproportionately affect the African-American community,” said Bayne, who lives and works in Los Angeles. “I feel so strongly about this.”

Bayne,who in addition to her M.P.H. has an M.F.A. in filmstudies from theArt Center CollegeofDesign,tookherfirst filmproduction class as apublic health student atYale. She now uses her dual talentsto address the breastfeedingdivide.

Since first learning ofthedisparity in 2013,shebegan reviewing the literature and meeting withcommunity health providers, community groups and African-American mothers. Once grounded in the issue and connected to a network ofpeople involved in maternalhealth, she began doing ethnographic research. The video interviews from research became the foundation ofa public service campaign, Chocolate Milk,which began in 2014. “The campaign wasessentially a Web series, said Bayne,who hasproduced over 30 videos featuringAfrican-American women who nurse their babies, as well as a website and four social media channels. The videos from the Web series areavailable on YouTubewhileBayne andher teamare working on a largerdocumentary.

Women ofall ethnic backgrounds cite a variety of reasons for resorting to formula,she said.It is difficult to return to work whilebreastfeeding and oftentimes inconvenient and hard to breastfeed in public. Beyond that, women simply don’t have confidencein theirability to do it.

ButAfrican-American women face some additionalobstacles, said Bayne. The legacy of slavery and the stereotype ofmammies and wet nursing have left an imprint with negative connotations about breastfeeding, she said. As a result, some African-American womenview the practice as inappropriate or even “nasty.” And now several generations ofwomen have not fed their babies with breast milk, mothers and grandmothers don’t understand feeding patterns or techniques or thechallengesof breastfeeding during adjust to motherhood, said Bayne.

These issues and others need to be addressed and overcome.Chocolate Milk is one response.